Poultry, beef, and fish processing is an extensive industry. Every year, for example, approximately four billion chickens are processed and sold in the United States alone. Unfortunately, mass production techniques make processing plants prime breeding grounds for food poisoning bacteria such as Salmonella and Escherichia. "According to the federal Food Safety & Inspection Service in Washington, D.C., about 37 percent of all chicken meat sold in the United States is infected with Salmonella. The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta estimates that Salmonella, which can cause severe stomach pains and even typhoid fever, kills about 1,000 people a year and causes another 35,000 to be hospitalized." "Microbiologist hatches test kit for salmonella", San Francisco Business Times, (Jul. 6, 1987) p. 13.
In the poultry industry, chickens are shipped to a processing plant where they are killed, defeathered, and eviscerated along rapidly moving disassembly lines. Assembly line workers commonly wear protective steal mesh gloves to guard against accidental injuries from knives which are used during product cut-up and evisceration. During processing, bacteria and other contaminants associated with the chickens inevitably are transmitted to these gloves. As a result, the U.S.D.A. has developed information concerning bacteria concentration levels for safe, sanitary assembly line operations. These bacteria levels are measured according to a bacteria plate count which signifies the number of bacterial colonies per square inch. It is currently understood that a bacteria plate count of one hunted or less is considered sterile and thus acceptable. The food processing industry has been attempting to develop an effective approach to mitigate bacterial dissemination and clean soiled gloves in a manner commensurate with such governmental standards.
In multi-shift plants, gloves typically are cleaned at the end of a given shift for subsequent use. If adequate cleaning has not occurred, process workers may start a shift with gloves that already have an unacceptable plate count. Thereafter, during the shift, every chicken, from the first one handled, may be infected with bacteria. As an example of the potential for bacterial dissemination, larger processing plants may run assembly lines at ninety chickens per minute with a chain of processing personnel, one person handling every third bird. By the end of a shift, a single processor may come in contact with hundreds of birds and have a glove contamination at a plate count level of half a million or more. Moreover, each bird may be handled by as many as ten different processors. As a result, cross contamination of bacteria among chickens inevitably occurs. The resultant need for clean gloves during processing is apparent.
In the poultry industry, there presently is no uniformly practiced method for adequately cleaning gloves to meet the governmental requirements. One method for cleaning is to use high pressure water from a spray wand. The gloves are placed on the plant floor, frequently already contaminated, secured under a foot, and manually sprayed with high pressure water to remove flesh and other particles. This method has proven less than effective in that spraying with high pressure water alone merely removes larger, visible contaminants. Micro-analysis testing reveals that the gloves still have a high bacteria plate count concentration, often in the hundred thousand range. If the gloves are used after spraying, the bacteria not washed out will continue to multiply exponentially with time, contaminating the production system. The wand cleaning method is additionally inefficient in that it requires several minutes to spray and clean each glove, which must be done one at a time. Preferably, glove cleaning should be carded out during a given shift, for example, during breaks as well as following it. Unfortunately, those breaks are of such a short duration as to preclude such desirable practices. Additionally, the number of gloves involved is substantial; larger plants employ four to five hundred gloves used in a single shift. Another cleaning approach involves soaking the gloves in a chemical sanitizing solution. This process, however, typically requires overnight treatment which makes it impractical for use with multi-shift plants requiring rapid cleaning, as for example during a five minute break or between shifts.
In another approach, a washer has been employed which operates much like a conventional, household dishwasher. Contaminated gloves are placed upright on open ended forks which slowly cycle through a washing chamber. Inside the chamber, the gloves are blasted by high pressure cold water jets. Designs heretofore offered to industry have been found to be unacceptable because of the difficulties of cleaning the machines themselves, the entanglement of the gloves within conveyor assemblies, limited plant water supplies, cross contamination of gloves during the cleaning process, unacceptable plate count levels, and the like.
Other washers combine soap and hot water cleaning cycles. These devices require a separate rinsing chamber and washing chamber which greatly adds to manufacturing and maintenance costs. Still other devices have used anhydrous ammonia as a sterilizing agent (400 ppm) which have experienced severe waste disposal problems.
Effective cleaning necessarily involves cleaning the glove tips. During processing, the finger tips are in frequent pressure contact with chicken parts and, as a result, are heavily contaminated with flesh and the like. A washer should be designed to remove the contaminants in these concentrated areas to produce a glove with a safe bacterial level.
An effective washer should not only lower plate count levels, but also be designed for effective periodic cleaning. In this regard, bacteria removed from the gloves during washing tends to accumulate and grow in the washing chamber. Crevices, nooks, protrusions, and any other non uniform surface act as pockets where bacteria may grow. As the gloves are being cleaned in the washing chamber, they are often exposed to contamination from such bacteria pockets, for example through splashing. Cross contamination between dirty gloves entering the chamber and clean ones leaving may also occur. As another design consideration, washers are periodically cleaned to remove bacteria, such as that accumulating in the pockets. Prior washers, have not been adequately designed for easy disassembly. Typically, extensive time and effort is required to access interior locations for cleaning or maintenance.